


I got all my old friends and new friends I've met once before (In a blanket of smoke as we sink through the floor)

by BrookeJones_D



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Ben Hanscom Loves Beverly Marsh, Ben Hanscom is a Good Friend, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Bill Denbrough is a Good Friend, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Love, Gay Richie Tozier, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mike Hanlon Deserves Nice Things, Mike Hanlon is a Good Friend, Other, Pennywise (IT) is His Own Warning, Richie Tozier is a Mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22621177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrookeJones_D/pseuds/BrookeJones_D
Summary: The losers, after.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 12





	I got all my old friends and new friends I've met once before (In a blanket of smoke as we sink through the floor)

It wasn't easy to move on after everything. The lingering feeling of both hope and despair clung onto them like smoke, and the fear that they'd forget again was present in every conversation leading up to their goodbyes.  
They'd agreed to stay in touch, to keep everyone on the loop, but they all knew in the back of their minds that if they forgot as kids how will they remember as adults? With the scar gone it was almost like they were meant to erase this part of their lives, to move on. Maybe they should move on that is, but moving on meant forgetting and forgetting meant that the dead would be forgotten too. The dead sacrificed too much to be forgotten, and in that aspect, they were all in agreement.   
Remember at all costs because otherwise Eddie and Stan died in vain.

Richie had it the worst. Going back into his old life, go over with his writer about new material, stand up in front of a huge crowd and have those blinding white lights staring back, knowing that no matter how many people he saw and no matter how many shows he did, his face would never be amongst them.

So he didn't. Instead of trying to get back on his feet Richie did the exact opposite and sunk down on his sofa and tried to drown his sorrows in cheap liquor. It's not like anyone cared right?  
His team called the first few days after he got back from Derry, his publicist insisting they have a meeting and start working on a new tour right away. Richie ignored his calls, and after two weeks he finally got the hint and stopped calling.

So maybe Richie wasn't coping well. He had the right to wallow in his own misery for a while after all hed just defeated a crazy shape-shifting killer clown and lost the love of his life in the process. 

Mike was doing alright, all things considered. He packed his life into the back of his old run-down car and finally decided to explore the world. Florida was his final destination, but what harm would it do to have a few pit stops along the way?

Mike would never admit it, but he was terrified. Terrified of such big change, of going from small-town Derry, Maine to some big city. Terrified that the losers would forget and hed be all alone again. But most of all, he was scared that one day he'd wake up and realize all the time he wasted researching and preparing to kill Pennywise had been for nothing.  
So Mike decided to focus on the pretty sights and try to put his worries on the backburner. He'd already had to deal with one entity that feeds on fears, he didn't need his own mind to do that for him as well.

He tried his best to keep in touch with the losers, to call regularly and keep them all updated on his journey, but as the weeks passed the calls became few and far in-between. They all had busy working lives, Mike knew that of course, but it didn't stop the little fear bug from furrowing his way into Mikes subconscious.

So Mike kept driving and driving, jumping from town to tow, buying shitty tourist trap souvenirs and postcards, taking polaroids of beautiful sunsets and trying to enjoy the world hed locked himself out of for 27 years.

Ben and Beverly decided the finally make up for the lost time. Beverly filed for divorce as soon as she could, keeping Ben as her support system.  
The media hit hard, at first, but after someone (Ben) leaked photos of Beverly's bruises and even some short videos of fights between her and her ex-husband, the media finally cut her some slack and turned their rage against her asshole partner.  
Beverly was admittedly scared of showing of Ben to the media at first, but she knew she couldn't hide him forever (especially if their vacation was to come to fruition) so she decided to just come out and say it, make a post about her old childhood crush who came running as soon as she needed him and about all the support hed given her. And then she completely cut herself off from the world, too tired to deal with the fallout.  
She and Ben bought themselves a small sailing boat and set off to the Bahamas, enjoying the sun and the sea and most importantly, each others company.  
The couple ended up adopting a stray dog they found near the beach, she was a mixed breed with a broken paw, an outcast, a loser. They nursed her back to health and named her Eddie (so Eds memory could live on, even if it was in the form of a pup).

Coming back from their 2/3 week-long holiday was hard, getting back into the rhythm of things and trying to fit into each other's lives was a hard process, but they made it work. Ben and Beverly always had a way of making things work, even if it took time.

The media ate up their teenage romance story, praising Ben for being there for Beverly (even when it wasn't romantic) and empathising with Beverly's struggle and want to move on.

Bill took the experience as an opportunity to finally, finally, finish his book, and give the director a good ending to their screenplay.  
He wrote about loss. About fears, about sadness about pain. But he also wrote about friendship. About people coming together and realizing how they're all just pieces to the same puzzle, how they all move together and how they all need each other.   
He wrote a small dedication at the end, 'For Eds and Stan, may you never be forgotten'.

Bill decided it was time to try to mend his relationship with Audra before the cracks become too deep to fix. They were on rough terms before Derry, the pressure of the movie getting to them both and putting a strain on their relationship, but after Derry things were even tenser.   
Bill wasn't really sure how to handle it, what to do to make it up to his wife, especially since he couldn't exactly tell her the tale of Pennywise, but if the experience had taught him anything, it was that friendships and relationships were hard to build and maintain, but that they were worth all the trouble that it took.

In the theme of friendship, Bill decided to take the step into guaranteeing that the losers club wouldn't die with IT. He created a group chat with all the losers (naming it appropriately) and sent them the script (emphasising on the ending). He got back an almost immediate response from Richie saying 'congratulations, it doesn't suck!' and soon all the others joined, at first talking only about the material but soon about their own lives.  
Bill made a plan that day with Audra, that when the movie premiered in a couple months time hed invite the losers to his 'date' to the movie's opening. Audra was ecstatic to finally meet the infamous losers and be apart of this side of Bill's life, and Bill was just excited to share this experience with the people he loved the most.

As it turns out texting is much easier to maintain then calls, so while the calls died down their group chat came alive, with near-constant messages about anything and everything.


End file.
